This invention relates to improvements in inflatable cushion means for lifting and supporting bedridden patients to allow use of a bedpan or a sanitary absorbent diaper material or to facilitate access for treating the pelvic and anal region.
Hospital patients, because of weakness or immobilization by casts, traction, etc., are frequently unable to leave their beds for normal toilet needs, and therefore require bedpans or absorbent materials. For patients unable to move themselves into appropriate position for use of the bedpan because of weakness, broken bones, or painful sensitivity to being moved, use of the bedpan is often very awkward, difficult or painful, and frequently requires the assistance of more than one hospital attendant to manually lift the patient onto the bedpan. Particularly in the case of very heavy patients, lifting a patient into position for use of a bedpan can be very difficult, and is accompanied by risk of back injury to the attendants who must lean over the side of a bed to lift the patient and place the bedpan.
Similar problems are encountered by persons who are confined to wheelchairs, as for example by paralysis or during recovery from debilitating sickness.
A prior art apparatus employing inflatable means for lifting a patient for bedpan use is disclosed in Kimbro, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,728,744, which discloses a generally U-shaped inflatable cushion for lifting a patient's hips high enough to allow placement of a bedpan. The apparatus of the Kimbro, Jr. patent does not, however, provide corresponding support for the back of the patient. For this reason a patient suffering from back or chest injuries may experience unnecessary pain as the hips, but not the upper portion of the body, are lifted by that prior art device.
The Kimbro, Jr. device includes a large, somewhat rigid, pad-like base to which an inflatable cushion is attached, and the entire pad and inflatable cushion must be inserted beneath the patient for each use of a bedpan. This itself becomes a difficult chore, and does little to relieve hospital attendants of the risk of back injury. The stiffness of the pad of the Kimbro device, if the device were left beneath the patient on a more permanent basis, would interfere with the ability of the head or foot of a hospital bed to be separately raised or tilted to increase patient comfort or accommodate a patient's need to be in a certain position or body attitude to promote healing. Additionally, because of the large, rigid pad-like base, the device is not easily adaptable for use by wheelchair patients.
Another prior device, described in Bowker U.S. Pat. No. 566,724, includes an inflatable cushion for the hips connected to an inflatable rim which forms a sort of bed pan particularly designed for use in obstetrics. The Bowker device includes a flexible segment in the bedpan rim, allowing a portion of the pan to be folded out of the way of a physician or midwife during delivery of a child. Again, however, no support is provided for the upper portion of a patient's body, and the construction of the device is somewhat complex.
What is needed therefore is an improved, inexpensive, and simple inflatable device which may be left in a bed or wheelchair beneath a patient on a semipermanent basis ready for inflation, which is capable of raising the upper portion of a patient's body as well as the hips when inflated and which, despite its capability for upper body support, is flexible enough for convenient use in beds having tiltable sections and can be used equally well in wheelchairs where upper body support from the inflatable device is not desired.